How to Answer “What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses” in a Job Interview
One of the most dreaded interview questions, “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses”, is likely to stump the unprepared candidate. However, you can set yourself up for success by reading our guide on how to prepare a smart, strategic response that is sure to impress any interviewer.
What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses? | Why Prepare Your Answer in Advance
No matter what role you apply for, the interviewer will likely ask: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” Answering this question involves a careful balancing act where you need to strike the right balance between humility and confidence, honesty and tact. You need to find a way of talking about strengths without coming across as arrogant, and a way to discuss weaknesses without talking yourself out of the job.
Given the complexity of this question, you definitely don’t want to be put on the spot when answering. As such, it’s a good idea to script your response in advance of the interview.
Having this information to hand will be useful even if you aren’t asked about your strengths and weaknesses specifically, as it will give you useful talking points for other questions relating to what you bring to the job and how you wish to grow in the future.
What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses? | Alternative Phrasings
- What would your manager say if I asked them about your greatest strength?
- What would your manager say if I asked them about your biggest area of improvement?
- What unique value can you bring to this organisation?
- Why would you be a good candidate for this role?
- What have you identified as your biggest areas of improvement?
- What do you think is the biggest challenge to your success?
Why Do Interviewers Ask About Strengths & Weaknesses?
This question offers a great way for interviewers to gain an overall view of a candidate. Discussion of strengths and weaknesses provides candidates with an opportunity to demonstrate introspectiveness, self-awareness, and professionalism. The candidate’s response will reveal a lot to the interviewer about how they perceive themselves and their ability to self-reflect.
How to Choose What Strengths & Weaknesses to Talk About
When preparing your spiel on strengths and weaknesses, it’s a good idea to zone in on one or two examples of each. Before your interview, think carefully about what strengths and weaknesses would best support the “career narrative” you want to tell.
Strengths
When thinking about what strength you want to highlight, consider your skills, habits and personality traits and choose one that is relevant to the role. For example, if you are interviewing for a management role then you would want to call attention to your leadership skills. Your chosen strength also needs to be one that you can substantiate with an anecdote, formal recognition, an award, data or feedback. If you’re not sure what strength to talk about, why not ask a friend, a trusted colleague or your recruitment partner.
Sample Answer 1: Personality
“I would say that one of my biggest strengths is my empathetic personality. Having worked in Technical Support for over three years, I have helped many different people. During that time, I dealt with many angry customers. However, even when a customer is being rude and hostile I do my best to help them by being patient, communicating calmly and by practicing active listening. Once the customer feels that someone hears and understands their frustrations, I find that they usually calm down and we can work together to solve their issue.”
Sample Answer 2: Skill
“I think I am a strong leader. I enjoy working with teams and I have good communication skills. When I was a Team Lead at FakeCo, my team was the number one sales team in the company for three months running. In fact, later that year I was given a leadership award by management to acknowledge this achievement.”
Weaknesses
You need to give extra careful thought to what weakness you’re going to talk about. Ideally, you want to select a weakness that won’t make you look incompetent or unable to perform the role in question. When selecting a weakness to talk about, identify one skill, habit or personality trait that is an area of improvement for you. Think about how this weakness has affected your work in the past.
You want to frame your weakness as a learning moment. If you have taken steps to address this weakness — great! If not, consider how you can address this area in the future and make a plan. This will impress the interviewer by demonstrating your commitment to self-development.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself if you are struggling to identify your weak points:
- Were there times when I failed to complete a work task? If so, what steps did I take afterwards to improve?
- Did any of my past managers ever give me constructive criticism on a particular aspect of my work?
- Was I ever asked to improve something? If so, how did I approach it?
- Are there any tasks that I dread and avoid doing?
How to Structure Your Answer Strategically
“When speaking about strengths and weaknesses, I would advise candidates to be open, honest and always back up their answers with examples. When talking about weaknesses — describe them briefly and try to put a positive spin on them.” ~ Katie Sullivan, Manager | Business & Technology
In some cases, the interviewer may ask you about your strengths and weaknesses in one question. Alternatively, they may ask you about them in two separate questions. If this happens during your interview, speak about your weakness first so that you can end your answer on a positive note.
What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses? | How Not To Answer
- Don’t just list adjectives. Stick to one strength/weakness and have a short spiel prepared to provide further context.
- Don’t turn a weakness into a strength (e.g. “My greatest weakness is that I’m too much of a perfectionist). This is an old and over-used trick and hiring managers will see right through it.
- This might seem obvious but don’t reveal any weaknesses which are listed as key job requirements.
- Don’t reveal too much. Your answer should be brief and to the point. Preparing your answer in advance will help prevent you from waffling.
- Don’t lie. An experienced hiring manager will see through the falsehood and, if need be, will fact-check the information with previous employers.
- Avoid generic clichés. Put time into preparing an original answer that is tailored to the role/organisation you are applying for.
30 Examples of Strengths
- Dedicated
- Adaptable
- Creative
- Resourceful
- Problem-Solving
- Ability to work under pressure
- Time management
- Team player
- Leadership
- Communication
- Fast learner
- Analytical skills
- Focus
- Self-starter
- Disciplined
- Reliable
- Patient
- Ambitious
- Efficient
- Growth mindset
- Specialist knowledge/skills
- Hard-working
- Empathetic
- Innovative
- Attention to detail
- Data-driven
- People skills
- Honesty
- Persistent
- Positivity
30 Examples of Weaknesses
- Lack of Tactfulness
- Trouble Managing Work-Life Balance
- Talkative
- Micromanager
- Harsh Self-Criticism
- Impatience
- Lack of Organization
- Trouble with Delegation
- Timidity
- Indecisiveness
- Fear of Public Speaking
- Poor multitasker
- Teamwork
- Inability to say no
- Playing it safe
- Time management
- Creativity
- Task Delegation
- Focus
- Taking risks
- Lack of confidence
- Trouble asking for help
- Overly sensitive
- Expecting too much from colleagues
- Being too detail-oriented
- Too extraverted
- Too introverted
- Perfectionist
- Procrastination
- Overthinking
What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses? | Key Takeaways
Given how often this question crops up in job interviews, all candidates should compose a unique and honest response that will set them apart from the competition. If you need support with this, why not ask your recruitment partner for help?